Review:  Enlightened – Season 1, Episode 6, “Sandy” – When Women Act like Teenagers

Air date: Monday, November 12 at 9:30pm ET/PT on HBO

Rating:  ★★★★★

Amy’s (Laura Dern) friend Sandy (Robin Wright) from the Hawaiian treatment center visits LA for a yoga conference and insists she stay with her (which really means her mom Helen’s (Diane Ladd) house. Amy beams as she’s finally around someone who understands what she’s been going through and shares her goals in making the world a better place.

When friends Amy (Laura Dern) and Sandy (Robyn Wright) are together, they're in their own world.

Based on how Amy and Sandy spend their first day together, I’m shocked they don’t get matching “BFF” bracelets or tattoos. They’re both completely absorbed in their own world as if they are on a ‘high’ from being with each other.

Those who follow Amy’s adventures know she has a knack for self-sabotage. She’s busted twice by Sandy attempting to read her personal journal. Amy’s hard-on for her friend concerns Sandy and Helen freaks out after hearing moaning sounds coming from Amy’s room. Ladd completely owns the hilarious scene in which she barges into Amy’s room to make sure they’re not making out and establishes that Sandy will be sleeping on the living room sofa.

The cracks in this intense ‘friendship’ surface quickly. To be fair, not everything is on Amy this time. Sandy also has a compulsive personality and her intrusive interrogation skills earn her a one-way ticket out of Helen’s house. Amy’s solution is to set her up at Levi’s (Luke Wilson).  When her co-worker Tyler (series creator Mike White) suggests Sandy and Levi are MIA because they’re having sex, things take a turn for the worse. Wright is terrific in her portrayal of a calm and free-spirited individual and I enjoy how she keeps us guessing about Sandy’s motives.

I love the concept of this show but I must remind myself several times during this episode that this is a sarcastic show and that Amy is a good person deep down. However, don’t let Amy’s apparent niceness completely fool you either. She doesn’t take Sandy to the airport because she’s a good friend; she’s desperate to find out if Levi and Sandy had sex. Her compulsive tendencies and impulsiveness are out in full force when she vacillates about whether to text Sandy after an awkward good-bye. When she confronts Sandy, Amy gets defensive just like she always does whenever she’s told a version of a truth she doesn’t want to hear. Never mind the fact she spits out truly uncomfortable comments on a regular basis to people like her former assistant Krista (Sarah Burns) during situations that are supposed to be jovial, not irritably awkward.

Amy (Dern) excels in not getting any work done at Congentiva.

Levi deserves a Medal of Honor for his bravery in doing Amy favors because he tends to get burned in every instance. Helen should also receive a medal for the patience and kindness she shows her daughter, especially through Amy’s troubles.

In the final minutes of the show, Amy realizes she screwed things up with Sandy. “Let it go,” she orders herself and manages to halt her obsessive behavior. Progress! I’d love to see this play out more. Perhaps things would go Amy’s way more often.

I’m glad the show ends on that note; it redeems Amy in my eyes. It’s tempting to give this episode a three-star rating because Amy really gets on my nerves but I didn’t because the writing and acting remains pretty solid. I think Dern’s captivating portrayal of Amy is what prevents me from hating her character. I love her fantastic voice-overs which I think are the soul of the show. The calmness and honesty in Dern’s voice make the emotions feel real and relatable. Deep down Amy’s instincts aren’t bad; she just shuts them down by being obsessed with taking action. By the end of the episode and particularly when we get a glimpse at the contents of Sandy’s journal, it’s obvious Amy has jumped to wrong conclusions; Sandy is the transparent non-judgmental person she initially thought she was.

Tune in to Enlightened Monday at 9:30pm ET/PT on HBO. For more on the show, visit: http://www.hbo.com/#/enlightened

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